NEW YORK—July 28, 2023—“Ameri-kinda" is how Natalie Price describes her music, a combination of catchy melodies and smooth, clear vocals, with a quirkiness weaved into her lyrics. On Natalie Price (Sept. 29), she explores complex emotions and experiences through relatable, confessional tales—her latest, “Superstitious,” examines a familiar cause for uneasiness.
“I never anticipated writing a song about my relationship with my phone, but that is essentially what it is,” she says. “It's the irony of how technology designed to make our lives easier often brings a lot of anxiety.”
The song follows the release of Price's first single, “Done,” featuring Stephanie Lambring. It's a reflection on the end of a relationship, but it also tells a story about struggling with the assumptions people make about a person of faith. Price sings, “And you think that I’m a robot programmed from my youth, that I don’t make my choices or consider other views / But the truth is that I got a little drunk last night and lost all of my clothes…”
“…it’s a country-tinged slacker pop anthem in the mould of contemporary greats like Julia Jacklin, Faye Webster and Jess Williamson. Price’s bittersweet lyrics spilling out of her like a stream of consciousness monologue about her profoundly ordinary and unglamorous anxieties.”
Produced by Mary Bragg, Price’s self-titled full-length debut is written in the singularly authentic manner that has garnered her recognition around Austin as one of the city’s most up-and-coming singer-songwriters; which is to say, it's full of gems.
The majority of the record, which also features Austin-based singer-songwriter David Ramirez and Lang Freeman (Sounds Under Radio),was written during the height of the pandemic, with Price cooped up in her room, but the recording process was a little different, noting the relaxed experience of fresh biscuits and jam every morning, and all the permission she needed to feel emotionally open.
Bragg says, “The first time I heard Natalie play ‘The Island,’ I was struck by her resonant voice; she had a way of approaching melody that was wildly original and quirky. It was an incredibly life-giving challenge to serve her songs as they were born into the recorded world. Raucous yet crystalline; honest yet philosophical; optimistic yet heartbreaking. What else can you ask for?”
“The Island" was composed on the Kalimba, and the recording offers a stark, dreamy vibe, with just the isntrument and vocals (Bragg also sings on the song).
The opening line to “All We Need,” featuring Jaimee Harris on background vocals, draws the listener in immediately. “Some days you never know what hits you in the face / Was it love, was it allergies, or falling out of grace?” The song goes on to explore the divisions we feel in the current cultural climate, and how that flame is fanned by disinformation. “Some days you think you’ve heard the truth instead of lies / and then the light shines through the darkness and fiction’s all you find."
Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Price’s early exposure to music was mainly church gospel tunes and contemporary Christian radio. Looking back, she describes her writing as a reaction to the shiny, glossy, Christian culture songs she was surrounded by; “Christian music tends to get tied up with a perfect bow at the end,” she says, “But that’s not how life actually is. Not everything gets resolved.”
When Price moved to Austin, she found a community of musicians and songwriters who showed her that playing music could actually be a real profession. “I always had the drive to play music,” says Price, “but my family never really understood what I would do with that. So I initially had a hard time wrapping my head around it too.”
Price names Muse, First Aid Kit, Pedro the Lion and David Ramirez among her influences, which makes sense when you hear her Indie-Americana style.
“I believe we’re all longing for connection,” she says of the album. “Honesty and vulnerability are the scariest first step in building bridges between us in the human existence— but no one wants to go first. That’s what I’ve attempted to do in this album - offer an honest look at some experiences in my life, including the shadows, in the hopes that listeners will begin to do the same in theirs.”
Natalie Price Track Listing:
1. Done (feat. Stephanie Lambring) 2. The Island (feat. Mary Bragg) 3. All We Need (feat. Jaimee Harris) 4. Give A Damn (feat. Lang Freeman) 5. I Couldn't See 6. Superstitious 7. What We Daydream Now (feat. David Ramirez) 8. In My Dreams 9. Don't Give Up On Me 10. See You Again
